www.floods.org give a lot of details on the issue.

http://www.floods.org/NoAdverseImpact ... shed_Development_2007.pdf

and

http://www.floods.org/PDF/ASFPM_Manso ... riefAmicusCuriae_0306.pdf

"When you build in a flood plain and the waters begin to rise, the buildings on your property displace water thus increasing the height of the rising waters and making the flooding worse everywhere along the banks. In addition, your buildings and pavement cover the natural ground surface that would have helped soak up the water. Therefore, the more building and pavement allowed, the higher the flood waters along that water body will rise, and the worse the flooding problems will get."

So I did some searching and couldn't find anything about pilings raising the water level. The only thing I did find was some articles about Boston's water table falling in the land filled swamp area of Back Bay and as a result, wooden pilings rotting away.

I think the real issue with the waterfront area is most of the "land" was created from a swamp and filled in with dirt. This always creates flooding problems because swamps absorb more water than hard land. But this was created 150 years ago when the swamp was filled in.

And yes, there probably will be more traffic if a large tower is built on the site, but this is Jersey City not Jersey Village. The roads in the downtown are not going to be widened. When capacity is reached, less people will drive downtown.

Its much better environmentally, to build densely in urban cores than destroying the state's open space with suburban office parks and tract homes. Businesses renting office space and home buyers moving to new condos need to live some place, and its much better that they live in a dense urban area than spread out over a hundred miles of watershed that delivers drinking water to our city.

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You will have to explain the physics, beyond this quite obvious baby-in-the-tub Archimedes principle.

What is the volume of the pilings?

What is the volume of the water?

What is the effect, in inches, on the water table?

You made a statement that small buildings will get flooded by the effect of this particular construction on the water table.

Back it up with engineering facts (links, papers, etc), please.

Nonsense! A little history- St. Peter's Church on Grand St. is the oldest Catholic Church in Jersey City. However, the present building was built in 1960. The first building fell during its contruction over 100 years ago. The ground could not support the building. The second building was condemned by the city because it was collapsing. The second building is similar to St. Francis Church on 31th Street in NYC. The third structure, which is the present building, floods when there is a great deal of rain. Take yourself to the public library and look at old maps of Jersey City. You will see the Hudson River covered many areas of Paulus Hook. The area was filled in with New York's garbage over 100 years ago.
When you place pilings in a ground to support a large building it is similar to placing a baby in a bath tub. The water table rises.
Yvonne

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Are you for real, Yvonne?

I thought I saw pretty much everything on jclist, but this nonsense tops it all.

Of course, we look forward to more traffic. Plus those buildings are located in flood areas. In order to support those structures, more pilings need to go into the ground. This will raise the water table and cause flooding to the small surrounding buildings. Every building on the waterfront has received an abatement, which means they will receive an abatement. Abatements hurt the small homeowner because weathier residents means less state aid for the local Board of Ed. However, abated buildings do not pay Board of Ed taxes. In the last two years, the city loss $10.8 million that had to be made up in local taxes. Taxes increased $2 more dollars to the loss state aid. So who does this benefit?
Yvonne

That's awesome. Downtown is going to be a different world in a few years.

That was in the Jersey Journal

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Grovepath,

In what publication was this article published?

$106M vote of confidence for Downtown

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

A Woodbridge-based development company has purchased 30 Montgomery St. and its neighbor, 2 Montgomery St., in Downtown Jersey City, for a whopping total of $105.87 million - and the plans for the site might open a new chapter for the city and its already red hot waterfront real estate market.

City sources tell me that Onyx Equities LLC plans to demolish the buildings to make room for a spectacular, mixed-use complex similar to the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle in Manhattan.

The project would feature a 14,000-square-foot open air plaza with shops and restaurants.

The building would also have more than 1.2 million square feet of retail, residential, office and luxury hotel space, continuing the trend of mixed-use construction in Jersey City.

The location is one of the most marketable and expensive sites in Jersey City, just a block from the Exchange Place PATH station and thus minutes from Manhattan's Financial District.

There have been no plans submitted to the city yet, and officials with the company did not return calls seeking comment.

If true, the proposal shows the continuing maturation and diversification of Jersey City's residential and commercial market, which in recent months has seen an innovative proposal from one of the world's most noted architects.

"This is the type of building that gets built in major metro areas like New York and Chicago," said one city official.

The 30 Montgomery St. building, built in 1974, is home to bankers, lawyers and real estate brokers, along with a number of Jersey City government offices, including the city's Planning Department, Redevelopment Agency, and the Jersey City Economic Development Corp.

Sources tell me the company plans to let leases expire in the upcoming months and may buy out others in order to clear the building. Meanwhile, the city is working on plans to consolidate all offices, perhaps building a City Hall annex on Grove Street.

The 2 Montgomery St. building is the previous corporate headquarters of First Jersey National Bank, but is currently fully leased to Met Life.

Though 30 Montgomery St. dwarves its neighbor in size, the buildings sold for roughly $52.5 million each. City officials say the similar sale prices has to do with the similar zoning.

It appears The Donald's charm works on both sides of the Hudson River, after Metro Homes and the mogul himself celebrated the sales of more than 300 units at Trump Towers Jersey City - in Trump style of course.

There were beautiful models, a yacht that carried real estate brokers from Manhattan to the shores of Jersey City and, of course, a bit of self-promotion.

"It is the most successful real estate project in the state of New Jersey," said Dean Geibel, owner of Metro Homes, who has partnered with Trump on the project.

Since the sales office opened seven months ago, 304 of the 444 available units have sold in the first 55-story tower, with prices ranging from $450,000 to $2 million.

That means 43 units sold per month, which either beats or compares with other Jersey City condo development sales at the height of the real estate boom, said one local official who tracks the market.

"The success of the Trump project means a lot. It shows there is a high demand for luxury condos," the local official said.

Buyers can expect to move into their new digs by next spring, Geibel said. However, the start of construction on the 407-unit second tower is still some time away and depends on the success of the first tower.

"The quicker we sell out the first tower, the quicker we can start construction of the second tower," said Geibel.

About 15 percent of the buyers are moving out of Manhattan into New Jersey in pursuit of value, while the majority of the remaining buyers are people who are moving from other parts of New Jersey to get closer to their jobs in Manhattan, said Geibel.